Got featured in 3 local and 1 national level newspaper for sending 28 children to school by sponsoring them with the funds we collected (national)
Activities (exceed 10, but these are unsorted and many, similar ones, will be combined together when filling out the Common app):
President and founder of the Community service group (Bricks To Books) at my school
//Organized 2 food camps to feed underage children working at workshops//
//Raised around $2500 and sent 28 children from poor families to school //
//Visit those 28 children during school every month and organize activities with them //
//Core Team of 15 people//
Created the website of Bricks to Books
Senior Vice President/Co-founder of an NGO (Pak Sar Zameen foundation)
//Got featured on local television multiple times for various projects//
//8 fold agenda ranging from Reforestation to helping orphans to protecting animals etc//
//Recently received Government funding ($2000) and more to come//
//Team of 25 students with 100’s of volunteers for each project//
Co authored a research related to Data Science with a professor at NUST (top university in Pakistan for Computer Science)
I Run the regional branch of a national NGO in my city
Have a published 3d horror mobile game on Play store with 20k+ downloads that I made on Unity (made without any kind of reskinning)
Got 2 paid internship. One at NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) for 2 months and another at a Software house working that works primarily on app development for 3 months
About to finish up my book on “Exploring Bahawalpur” . It is meant to show the true beauty of my city and its palaces (and yes it’s not a typo, I literally meant palaces in this desert of a city). I’ll also be able to secure a well reputed publisher (due to some networks with a publisher)
Tutored some students from my school (paid)
Have a published article in a children’s magazine (about some useful online resources for self teaching and the power of independent learning)
Online courses on edX and Udemy: To learn more about computer science, I have taken a few courses on edX about general computer science/data science and for game development on Udemy
Essays/LORs/Other:
I have not started with the letters or the essays yet. I believe that I’ll be able to write some killer essays and I have 2-3 teachers who I am very sure have really great things to say about me along with my school principal (who also happens to be my cousin)
Colleges:
I probably won’t be applying to the UC’s as they are test blind now and my Sat score is the shiniest piece in my app without which I don’t think I have a T30 worthy profile
I also won’t be applying to the schools which are known to never give a lot of aid (Carnegie mellon, UIUC etc)
Please Chance me for MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Upenn and other T30’s such as Brown, Rice, Duke, Dartmouth etc
If possible, also match me (to maybe even beyond the T30’s
Your profile is very strong. But international acceptance rates to any of the schools on your list are in the 2-3% range. And other than a small handful, all are need-aware for internationals.
Your list is very top heavy even for a student with excellent high school stats, which you have.
Your application will be reviewed with other applications from your region. Many, if not most, of those students also hve excellent high school records.
You are applying for computer science which it seems everyone seems to want now. In other words…way more applicants for this competitive major than other majors.
You also need a ton of aid and most of these schools are need aware for admissions. This means your level of financial need will be considered when your application for admission is considered.
When you look at acceptance rates at these schools, you need to adjust for these things. The acceptance rate will be in the low single digits.
You need some sure things on your list. What are they?
Been so dead set on these that I haven’t really thought about others as much. Would love some suggestions for safeties though (keeping full aid in consideration)
This will be your challenge. Many schools that are less competitive don’t have as deep pockets. Some don’t provide aid to international students at all. Some only provide limited aid. All are need aware for international students or don’t meet full need…or both.
Others might have schools where you will receive full need in the United States as a computer science major.
My suggestion is you look at colleges in your home country.
Although you have great stats, because of your financial situation, I would suggest applying to colleges lower down on the list. Especially those looking to increase diversity. Now students from the subcontinent are not uncommon by any means. But there are many colleges that need to boost their diversity. Especially coming from an Islamic country. Focus on private schools that can give lots of aid.
For HYPSM I think your chances are probably the same as the overall acceptance rate (5-8%). Although you have great stats, nothing stands out in your application. Focus on schools in the bottom half of T50. Look carefully at each and see how many Pakistani students they have. Some schools may be looking to increase their presence in your country. They tend to have an overabundance of Indian students, so you might get a break.
Take a look at colleges like: U Rochester, Emory, Notre Dame, William & Mary, Lehigh, Santa Clara. You might get some attention here. Good luck
I don’t know where you developed your list, but these schools should never have been considered.
What you need to understand is that a number of strong US universities are public schools that were built, with taxes, from the residents of that state. Priority for admission goes to the residents of that state. California’s students and professors built the reputation of those strong UC’s and CSU’s. The UC’s are huge but they still cannot accept, nor fund, every student who wants to attend. No aid for non residents.
As previously mentioned, you are asking for aid to attend those universities. You also said that you had raised $2500 for your club. That must have been difficult. Now, picture having to raise over 30 times that, in less than a year, in order to attend one of those universities. If you have $70k per year somewhere, then you can try to apply, but even then, there are no guarantees.
Google universities that provide scholarships for international students.
Your safeties are in your home country.
Thanks a lot for the insights. Will surely look into the colleges you mentioned. What would be some examples of things that if you’d have seen on my app then you’d call it standing out. You can be as random as you want with your example.
You may want to look into the Robertson Scholarship program at Duke and UNC. I believe it is available to international students and covers all costs. The program is focused on leadership and community impact.
Winning a nobel prize (not a joke - Malala Yousefzai)
International Math Olympiad gold medalist
ISEF Grand Award Winner/Gordon Moore Award
Starring role in a major TV production/show/film
Recruited athlete
There are many many more. But these are examples which will catch an admissions reader’s attention.
